


Handle with Care

by versus_versus



Series: Year after Year Vignettes [2]
Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Adoption, Food Issues, I'm a firm believer in found families, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Temper Tantrums, parental patience, sometimes unflattering descriptions of the foster system, uncomfortable realities of adopting and older child
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-26
Updated: 2017-04-14
Packaged: 2018-10-11 01:15:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,321
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10451715
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/versus_versus/pseuds/versus_versus
Summary: Adopting an older child comes with its own sort of challenges. But really, since when have either of them backed down from a challenge?Takes place 10 years after the conclusion ofDifferent Forms of Combat(which you don't have to read first to enjoy this).(Currently I've got about 8 chapters, but this will be slow to update. May be a bit faster with a beta willing to kick my ass)





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> While [Different Forms of Combat](http://archiveofourown.org/works/5819314/chapters/13410979) isn't required reading prior to this fic, it may help flesh out any of the original characters that crop up.
> 
> This part of the story is told in an episodic fashion. It’s setting the scene for the actual story with actual plot and all, which starts up when Luka is 11. 
> 
> Still. First time parents and some fluff. It was too good for me to resist.

The morning of their first pre-placement visit, Kylo can tell Hux is anxious. He had felt the tightness in his shoulders the night before, and the way he tossed and turned during the night. At 5, he simply gets up, unable to pretend to sleep any longer.

That was a telltale sign. Where Hux would usually prefer to sleep in on the weekends until Kylo is back from his early morning run, he’s up even before Kylo, standing in the kitchen drinking coffee and reading something on his tablet.

And he knows. He knows there’s something wrong, that Hux is worried. It’s simmering just below the surface, and he can recognize the tension in him, like a rubber band about to snap.

It’s 7 by the time he shows outward signs of panic. There’s no chance of dragging him back to bed, not in this state, and Kylo talks him into going for a run to burn off some of the nervous energy.

* * *

It works for awhile. Hux levels out once they get back from the run, showering and getting ready with an almost eerie calm. In the time it takes Kylo to shower as well, that calm façade falls apart. He finds Hux standing in the kitchen, looking at Luka’s profile and jittery as hell.

Kylo knows how Hux is, so he lets him drive. It gives him a measure of control, and takes his mind off of worrying.

They’re about half an hour away from the agency when Hux finally starts to put his worries into words. “What if she hates us?”

“We’ll figure it out. She’s not going to love us at first, we’re just another time she’s been uprooted.”

“But what if she’s with us through the entire probationary period and she still hates us?”

“She won’t.”

“But what if she does?”

“Hux. Breathe. She won’t, we’ll figure it out. You said it yourself, we’ll make it work.”

“But…”

“Shhhh.” Kylo puts a hand on his thigh and gives him a point to anchor himself. “At least wait until we’ve met her to worry.”

When they arrive, they sit in the car for a few minutes until Hux brings his breathing back to normal. A few slow, deep breaths and he nods, practically flinging himself out of the driver’s seat. Kylo climbs out and grabs his backpack from the backseat.

Hux looks like he might be physically ill.

Kylo takes his hand and they go to meet their daughter.

* * *

The first time they see her, she’s sitting in Amy’s office, visible through the window. From the back she’s small and nervous, a dark braided ponytail and a backpack covered in stars and planets, a black sweater, and short legs that swing back and forth from her perch, not quite reaching the floor.

She’s clean but a bit ratty looking; her clothes are outdated and probably donated by someone, and her gym shoes are grubby with wear.

He feels Hux tense with nerves, and puts his hand on his shoulder to offer some kind of stability. They share a look and Hux knocks on the door.

She spins around to look through the window and he feels Hux’s breath catch. The look on her face is something between uncertainty and hope, and he gives her a smile. She her face transforms as she smiles back and Kylo feels like he’s been sucker punched, like all the air’s been sucked out of his lungs. He’s not going to cry, that’s senseless, but he definitely didn’t expect to be hit with this sort of _whoomph_ of emotion.

Amy waves them in.

Luka is up and out of her chair, looking up at them. “ _You guys_ are really adopting me? You’re not just going to foster?” her incredulity is audible.

“That’s no way to speak to…” Nora, her caseworker, starts.

Kylo ignores her and gets down on one knee, so he’s on Luka’s level. “Well, we’d like to. Do you want to be adopted by us?”

She seems to hesitate for a long minute before nodding. “I think so. I just want to stay somewhere for a long time.”

Kylo’s heart feels like it’s twisting around angrily in his chest. More than anything, he wants to deck whoever hurt her like this, bounced her between homes and never gave her the chance to really settle somewhere. There are so many people, all somewhat at fault, and there’s nowhere to direct that anger. He takes a slow, controlled breath, having prepared for this. He’d known this was how he would react. He’d known, so he can handle it.

That doesn’t stop his chest from clenching up, but it lets him stay in control.

Luka looks up at Hux and considers him as Kylo stifles his internal crisis. By the time she looks back at Kylo, he’s got it in control, which is good, because she doesn’t waste any time getting to questions. “Why are you both guys? And when do I get to live with you?”

Hux looks to Nora with a questioning glance, uncertain if they’d discussed it with Luka ahead of time.

Kylo doesn’t hesitate. “Because it doesn’t matter who you fall in love with, as long as they treat you well. And as soon as all the placement paperwork is complete, since we need to make sure everything is official so you don’t get moved again.”

She considers, then nods. “Okay, but you can’t _both_ be my dad.”

They both look at her for a second, thrown off by her strange no-nonsense take on the situation. Kylo grins up at Hux. “I’ve got dibs on ‘dad’.”

“So what do I call _him_?” She looks between the both of them and Kylo has the unnerving feeling she’s trying to feel them out. He isn’t sure what she’s doing, but it feels like things could easily take a turn for the worst with the wrong response.

Instead of arguing with Kylo, Hux pauses and considers. “When I was very little, I used to call my father papà. If you want to call us different things, he can be ‘dad’ and I can be ‘papà’? Or you can just call us whatever you’re comfortable with.”

She looks at him suspiciously. “Papa?”

“No, that means ‘pope’. ‘Papà’ means ‘father’ in Italian.” It comes out without a second thought, and Kylo watches the two of them, somehow knowing that this is a make or break moment.

But she takes it in stride and tries again. “‘Papà’? Is that right?”

“There you go. If you like it, you can call me that, and if not, we can find something else.”

“Huh.” She seems to stew it over before looking at Nora. “So really I get two dads?”

“It’ll start as a probationary period, just to make sure you’re settled in before everything is finalized, but yes. They’ll officially be your foster parents for three months before we review the case and make things official.”

“And I don’t have to have a mom?” There’s something strangely elated in the way she says it that makes Kylo’s chest tighten.

Nora frowns. “No. Your mother has officially surrendered you to the State, we’ve been over this.”

“I know that, I meant…with them. I don’t have to have a mom?”

“If you’re with us, you won’t have a mom. But you’ll have two very lovely grandmothers.”

Her eyes widen as if she hasn’t considered this before. “Ohh.”

“Now, if you don’t mind, I need to run through a few things with one of you before we can release you for the afternoon.” Amy has a number of documents she needs them to verify, and Hux is on it.

Though they’ve worked on all of the documentation and forms together, Hux’s perfectionism has lent itself to the level of organization and detail they’ve needed. Today’s paperwork is a discussion of Luka’s IEP and the transfer of her school records, as well as the pediatrician they’ve picked out for her. He’s prepared, and as Amy starts listing off other info they’ll need for her file before they finish her placement, Kylo sits down with Luka and talks with her.

To all extents and purposes, Luka seems fairly well adjusted, what with everything she’s been through. She’s a bit shy as he asks her about what she likes to do in school or after school, and he gets little more than a strained answer of, “I like soccer.”

But the moment he tells her he likes her space-patterned backpack and asks if she likes space, she lights up. “Did you know that NASA’s working on a thing that could let us travel all over the solar system? It’s called an EM Drive and it…”

It’s only once she launches into the principles of flight that it occurs to him that she’s almost absurdly smart. She’s rattling off all sorts of facts about space and flight, and he stares, wondering how on earth she’s been getting such low marks in her classes when she’s clearly sharp as a tack.

* * *

The afternoon goes well. Lunch is a simple affair at a burger joint, and she digs into her meal with relish. After, they go to the park and talk awhile. At first they thought she could play with other kids, but when it became clear she really just wanted to be pushed on the swings, it was easier to stand and talk.

As much as Kylo knew he would remember that first outing for the underdog pushes Luka asked for on the swing, there was something about the image of Hux taking the swing next to her, grin, grey slacks, and all, that would stick with him for the rest of his life.


	2. Chapter 2

It’s September by the time everything is straightened out and all of Luka’s paperwork is complete. Amy reassures them every time they call that this is normal, that the system is like this, but Hux struggles with it a bit.

There’s nothing to do but keep their usual daily routine going as they wait for a final placement date. In the meantime, they take her out to dinner when her caseworker has time and they can travel to visit her, they keep in touch with her over Skype once every two weeks when her foster parents allow it.

When the call finally comes, it’s a grand total of 12 hours in advance of placement.

Hux doesn’t panic, but it’s a bit of a near miss. He makes a couple of last-minute calls in order to take the day off and thanks his lucky stars it’s a Friday. Even so, he feels his blood pressure ratchet up a couple notches in fury at the system’s poor organization.

* * *

Although he’s worked it up to be something big in his mind, the actual day of placement turns out to be rather…underwhelming. Nora comes by with Luka, brings her in, and has them sign paperwork for the turnover. Really, that’s it. That’s all it takes, after months of back and forth. She’s officially living with them and in their care as a foster-to-adopt family until the court finalizes the adoption.

Kylo shows her around as Hux stands in the kitchen with Nora, making sure everything is official and taken care of. Luka looks around the house curiously, although she keeps eyeing the kitchen when she didn’t think they’re looking. It’s as though she doesn’t trust Nora not to take her away again.

It’s not long before Nora packs up the folder of documents, then looks at her watch. Kylo and Luka are in the living room talking animatedly as she unpacks her backpack. Nora looks at them, then back to Hux. “I’m going to need to head out pretty soon, I’ve got an in-home visitation in half an hour and I need to drive there. I’ve got her other bag in my car, can I have one of you come grab it and I’ll be off?”

“Of course.” Hux follows her out to the curb where she pops the trunk of her car and hauls out a large black garbage bag. It only registers with him that it’s Luka’s bag when she dumps it in his arms.

“Is this all she has?”

“Yeah. You know how it goes. She’s been in the system awhile, she doesn’t have much.” She frowns as she looks at her phone, which is buzzing with a series of texts. “You’re going to be in for a rude awakening if you’re just worried about that.” She looks distracted and tired, and once again Hux finds himself hating the system that did this to people, kids and caseworkers alike.

“I’m sure I am.”

Her eyebrows rise with surprise at his answer. “Well. I guess that’s a good way to think of it. If you get that there are probably going to be issues, it’ll help you get through them. Just.” She hesitates and plows forward anyway. “Try to be patient with her. She really is a sweet kid, she’s just had a lot of trouble.”

“We will be.”

She gives him A Look as she climbs in her car. “You say that now…”

“We’ll find a way to make it work.”

“Please do. For her sake.”

Hux is left standing in the driveway with a garbage bag full of Luka’s stuff. It’s not how he thought it would happen, but somehow he’s not actually surprised.

People hadn’t been joking when they said parenting was difficult, but he has a gut feeling that this isn’t quite what they meant.

* * *

He goes back inside and heads toward her bedroom, which is still dark. “Hon? Have you shown her her bedroom yet?”

There’s an excited clatter from the living room and a rush of small footsteps that rush down the hall. “I get my own room?”

“Of course you do. This is your house too.” He flips the light on and she looks around the room, wide-eyed. The moment her eyes settle on the accent wall, she stops dead. 

“Oh.” He can’t tell if that’s a good ‘oh’ or a bad ‘oh’ or just an ‘oh’. He hopes it’s a good ‘oh’.

The mural had taken Kylo days, but it’s stunning, planets and stars airbrushed across deep blues and purples and blacks of galaxies that form the background.

Whatever it is, he feels Kylo tense nervously at his side and blurt, “Your room’s not finished yet, but we weren’t sure what you liked so there’s furniture, and I did the mural, but you can help pick out how you want to finish decorating everyth…” she grabs the deep blue blanket that’s folded across the foot of the bed and clutches it to her chest, continuing to stare at the wall. She looks...lost. Even as she stares at the wall, she climbs into bed and pulls the blanket over her head and shoulders. “Is it alright for now?”

“Yeah.” Her voice is small and a little wobbly. “Yeah, it’s really good.”

Kylo sits down next to her. “Is something wrong?”

She lasts a couple seconds before her expression cracks and she flings herself at him, crying. Hux can’t make out most of what she says, it’s muffled by Kylo’s shirt and her crying, but he makes out a, “please let me stay here…” and his heart seizes up in his chest.

It’s a good thing Kylo is as good with upset kids as he is, because he handles it far better than Hux does. He returns the hug and holds her close, rocking and rubbing her back to calm her down. “Hey, hey, it’s alright. You can stay here as long as you like, we want you to stay here. Shhh, shhh, it’s alright.” As she calms, Kylo suggests, “How about papà helps you unpack and I’ll make some lunch? We can wash some of your clothes tonight.”

At the word ‘lunch’, her face brightens and she looks up at him. “What’s for lunch?”

“You know, I’m not sure yet. You like grilled cheese?”

She nods and grins.

* * *

It’s nothing fancy, but with the way Luka’s eyes widen at the sight of the plate of perfectly golden-brown grilled cheese on the table, you’d think they’d put an entire cake in front of her. She stares at them, her eyes flicking up to Kylo at he gets plates and bowls down, then back to the sandwiches.

“How much tomato soup do you want?”

She pulls a disgusted face. “I don’t like tomatoes.”

“I’ll only give you a little bit. You should try it, and then if you decide you don’t like it you don’t have to eat much.”

It’s clear her eating habits are ungodly the moment she manages to shove a triangle of sandwich in her mouth in the blink of an eye. It takes her a minute or so to chew and swallow before she wolfs down the other part.

As she reaches for another piece, Kylo and Hux share a look across the table and Hux knows. He just knows, from the way she warily hunches over her food with one arm defensively positioned around her plate and bowl to the speed she eats at, he _knows_ people have taken food away from her in the past, and his chest aches.

“Did you eat breakfast?” Hux asks.

She looks up warily. “Nora gave me a granola bar.” She stares suspiciously as Kylo dips his grilled cheese in his soup, then changes the topic. “Why do you do that?”

“They both taste even better like this. Grilled cheese is good, but grilled cheese and tomato soup is delicious.”

She picks at the second half of a grilled cheese she takes, finally dipping the very corner of it in her soup. It’s clear she agrees with him, because she eats the rest of the sandwich like that. They eat in companionable silence. When Luka finishes, she sits quietly, as if on her best behavior.

The afternoon is spent getting her settled in, and things go smoothly. Nora’s warning seems to have been premature.

* * *

As they tuck her in for the night, she muses, “I never had a dad before. Isn’t it kind of weird that I get two?”

“What about your foster parents?”

She gave a heavy sigh. “Yeah, but they were never going to adopt me.”

“Well, we are. So you’ve got us.”

“What if you decide you don’t like me?”

Her words are candid, but it shows just how much she’s been through. “We’re not going to decide we don’t like you. We might be upset or angry with you, but we won’t just decide we don’t like you.”

“Will you send me back?”

Hux takes a deep breath. “No. If you’re not doing well here and things just aren’t working for you…we would need to talk to Nora about maybe finding you somewhere you’re happier.”

She shakes her head. “I like it here.”

“Then it sounds like you’re staying.”

She smiles sleepily, then grabs the pile of blankets and buries herself in them. They flip off the lights and leave her to sleep.

As they close her bedroom door and turn down the hall, Hux frowns. “I think we need to see about getting her clothes and supplies for school tomorrow. She didn’t come with much, the bag Nora gave me is about it.”

Kylo sighs. “I’m not surprised.”

“If we go early, we should be able to avoid the worst crowds and…”

There’s a shriek of excitement and the sound of Luka flinging herself out of bed. She throws the door open and looks up at them. “There are _constellations in my room!_ ”

Kylo grins. “You like them?”

“ _I love them!”_ She spins around and flings her door shut behind her again.

The look on his face is something between joy and anticipation. Hux kisses him.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is still fairly soft but, just as a warning, more issues from Luka's past start cropping up from here on out.

Day two goes fairly uneventfully. They go out to lunch with Leia, who gets a bit bright-eyed meeting Luka, and then they go shopping for school supplies and clothes.

In the car on the way there, they discuss house rules for school days. “Your bedtime is 9pm, unless we give you permission. We’ll be helping you get situated today and tomorrow, and then school starts on Monday.”

Luka groans. “Do I have to go?”

Hux isn’t having that. “Everyone has to go to school.”

“Yeah, but what if I didn’t?”

“Then you wouldn’t learn anything.”

“Maybe I don’t want to learn anything.”

“Well, you can’t be anything cool when you grow up if you don’t learn anything. What do you want to be when you grow up?”

“A lumberjack ninja.”

Hux’s eyes widen at the absurdity of it. Kylo takes a deep breath and readjusts his train of thought. She’s a kid. Not everything is going to be logical. “You what now?”

“A lumberjack ninja. Like, I cut down trees with my sword and stuff.”

Hux recovers, but it’s clear he’s a bit rattled. “So if you want to be a lumberjack, you need to know how the trees will fall so they don’t fall on you, don’t you?”

“Lumberjack ninja.”

“Right.”

“And that’s stupid.”

Clearly Hux’s approach isn’t working. “Work with me here, I’m trying to make school interesting to you.”

“Yeah but it’s not, it’s boring.”

“Maybe your new school will be more interesting.”

“Probably not.”

“You’ll make new friends.”

There’s silence from the back seat, and Kylo realizes with horror that he’s made a mistake. He steps in before Hux has the chance. “Do you miss your friends from your old school?”

Her voice is quiet. “I didn’t really have any. I wasn’t there long enough.”

“Oh,” he pauses, recalibrating. “How many schools have you been to?”

“Westview, Jefferson East, Knox…” she rattles off half a dozen schools and Hux quickly shutters his expression. Kylo struggles to, failing spectacularly. No wonder she’s had so much trouble, she’s had no stability. Not at home and not at school. Six schools in three years.

He feels his face pricking and he very carefully doesn’t cry for her.

* * *

She’s not great at shopping, they quickly find. She wants to touch everything, and Kylo reflects that maybe going without a list might have been a poor decision. She’s scattered, and he finds himself acting as a mediator as Hux tows her through each store, trying to stay on track.

They finally manage to leave the stores with a week worth of new outfits, new pajamas covered in stars, a backpack worth of school supplies in her favorite colors, and a stack of books she picked out herself.

The rest of the day passes peacefully, as does Sunday. They talk her through the plan for starting at the new school the next morning and she’s off to bed. It’s simple, straightforward. Normal.

* * *

Early Monday morning is like any other morning. Hux wakes up, showers, makes coffee, eats breakfast, and goes to work. Kylo glances at the clock and sighs. He can get another hour of sleep before he needs to get up and start getting Luka ready for school.

“Papà left for work.”

“Holy…!” He jolts into wakefulness and very nearly jumps out of his skin as the sound of her voice startles him. By the time he’s fully comprehended that yes, it’s just Luka standing at the side of the bed, he’s more awake than he would be if he drank a pot of coffee. “Christ. Yes. Sorry, yes, he has to go to work. What’s up?”

She grabs the pillow from Hux’s side of the bed and crawls into the space it had occupied, wrapping herself around it. “What if he doesn’t come back?”

“That’s…why wouldn’t he come back? He lives here.”

“Yeah but like. What if he decides he doesn’t want to anymore?”

It takes him a moment to wrap his head around the question. “If that happened, we would talk it out like adults, and then we’d figure out together what would happen next. But he wouldn’t just leave. That’s not what he’s like.”

That answer seems to ease her mind somewhat. She’s quiet for a bit, and just as Kylo thinks he’s going to get that extra bit of sleep, she speaks up. “Can I have breakfast?”

He takes a breath and braces himself to get out of bed. “Of course. Let’s see what we’ve got in the fridge.”

* * *

After scrambled eggs and toast, she sits around and reads awhile as he files through emails for the gym. It’s quarter-past when he looks at the clock and frowns. “Alright, we’re leaving in 20 minutes, time to go get ready for school.” Her face crumples for a moment as she looks up, but she hides it quickly and goes to her bedroom to get changed. At least she’s enthusiastic about her new outfits.

By the time he parks and walks her in to the office at school, she’s shaking nervously. She hides it well, but as he takes her hand to walk her in, he can feel the tremor.

The secretary in the office is rather unimpressed, but once he explains who she is and hands her the folder of paperwork that came with her transfer, she nods and says she’ll take her to her new classroom.

On her way down the hall, Luka looks back at him. He gives her a thumbs-up and the most encouraging grin he can before they turn around the corner and he loses sight of her.

* * *

He spends most of his day in the studio, playing catch up from the past few days. At 2:30 he heads home and cuts up some apple slices, then drives to the school to pick Luka up.

When she spots him, she wanders over, speeding up a bit as she notices the bag of apple slices. “So? How was it?” He hands over the snack.

“Boring.”

“Did you meet anyone you might want to be friends with?”

“Maybe.” She’s quiet as she chows down on a couple pieces of apple as they walk to the car. “People don’t usually like me much.”

“I’m sure there’s someone.”

“Yeah, maybe.”

“It’s ok. We’ll wait and see.” Once they’re situated in the car, he hands her the list he made for the grocery store. “We’re going to go shopping for groceries, and then we can go home and work on any homework. Did you find out if you need anything else for class?”

“Nope.”

* * *

At the store, she seems wary, and he suspects it may go similarly to how school clothes shopping went. There are certain foods she’s enthusiastic about, while others she’s never heard of.

Things are going fine until they get into an argument in the cereal aisle, when she insists on chocolate flavored nonsense. “We don’t need to get cereal, it’s full of sugar and not good for you.”

“But I want it!” Her voice rockets up, shrill and loud.

“No.”

There’s a long moment that passes, a sort of standoff. She seems to be testing him, trying to see what she can get away with. He starts to think he’s made his point when her face unexpectedly crumples and she starts crying. Loudly.

Part of him wants to curl in on himself as embarrassment floods him. It would be so much easier to simply give in, let her get the cereal, but he’s seen this sort of behavior before in some of the younger kids in the programs at the gym. If he gives in, she’ll know that throwing a fit will be a way to get what she wants, and that’s not going to work in the long run.

Instead, he walks away and gets a canister of oatmeal off the shelf, letting her cry it off and hoping she’ll get the point and calm down. The moment he turns back to the cart, she lets her legs give out under her and sits down on the ground, still crying, but more loudy now.

Kylo wants to disappear. He can feel his face burning with humiliation and if it could burn him to a crisp, a nonexistent puff of ash in the air, that would be ideal. Spontaneous human combustion is a thing, yes? It sounds preferable to the present situation.

Instead, he takes a deep breath and does his damndest not to let it show. “You’ve got to the count of three to knock it off, or we’re going to walk out of here until you’ve got yourself back together. One. Two.” He raises his voice enough to make sure she can hear him. “Three.”

And that’s it. That’s the last straw. He scoops her up and carries her out, leaving the cart where it is and ignoring as her foot catches a shelf as she flails and starts shrieking. She weighs next to nothing, but her screaming and crying make her difficult to handle. Even with the arm around her waist, he struggles to get her out the doors.

Everybody’s watching and he still wants to disappear into the void. Heads are turning to watch from the parking lot, and he plops her down on a bench outside and sits down next to her, hand on her shoulder to keep her from running into the parking lot. He very carefully doesn’t argue with her, and although it’s difficult, he keeps his eyes focused on the people around the parking lot that keep looking over. Each time he catches someone’s eyes, he gives them a glare and, for the most part, they look away.

She sobs awhile longer before finally quieting down and looking up at him.

“Behaving like that isn’t acceptable, and it’s not going to help.”

She sniffles. Wipes her nose on her sleeve, but it’s still running.

“How about we talk things through, and we’ll come to something that works for both of us?”

Her voice is sticky with snot. “Like what?”

“Well. You want sugary cereal, and I want to eat healthy. So we can’t both get exactly what we want, can we?”

“Why can’t we get both?”

“Because I think we can talk it through and come to something that works for both of us. How about fruit? That’s sweet. What’s your favorite type of fruit?”

She takes a long minute and finally says, “Strawberries?”

“How about this, then. How about we have baked oatmeal with strawberries for breakfast this week?”

She’s quiet, and he’s not sure if she’s going to throw another fit. Eventually, she says, “I can’t make oatmeal. I don’t know how.”

And that’s the catch, isn’t it? He’d known they were going to have issues with food from the first time they sat down and had a meal with her, but he hadn’t expected this. He thinks it over. She wants things she knows how to make, and cereal doesn’t take any know-how. “How about I teach you?”

“So I can make it myself?”

“Sure. Why not?”

She settles on the bench and mulls it over for a minute before nodding. “Okay.”

“So. Oatmeal and fruit? Deal?”

She nods more enthusiastically this time. “Deal.”

* * *

Back inside the store, they recover the cart and find a disgruntled employee putting back the boxes of powdered grits she’d kicked off the shelf on the way out. Kylo catches her eye, then looks pointedly at the teenager. She picks up on what he’s saying and taps the poor kid on the shoulder.

“Sorry I knocked stuff off the shelves.”

He looks at her awkwardly, then nods. “It’s ok.”

“If there’s anything damaged, let me know and I’ll cover it.” Kylo says quietly.

“Nah. They’re just boxes, it’s fine. No harm done.”

As they head back to the produce section, Luka holds the cart with a tight grip. “People are staring at us,” she says quietly.

“Let them stare, they’re not going to bother us.”

“How do you know that?”

“I won’t let them.”

Everything seems to be going well until…“Excuse me, sir?”

Kylo turns to find a balding man in a rumpled buttondown and tie. “Yes?”

“Is something wrong?” He looks down at Luka as if trying to get a read on her. It takes Kylo a minute before he realizes what’s going on.

He’s at the store with a little girl who, other than the dark hair, looks very little like him and almost certainly isn’t his biological child. She’s just had a meltdown, a screaming, crying fit. Bile rises in his throat and he clenches his jaw, biting down on the age-old instincts to shove the man away. _How dare he?_

“No, I think we’ve got everything straightened out now, right?” Luka shimmies around the cart and Kylo can see how she puts it between herself and the manager.

It doesn’t stop him though, and it’s clear she’s uncomfortable. The man walks around the cart, stoops down, and gets close to Luka, even as she tries to hide behind Kylo. “Do you know this man?”

He can feel her shaking again, and something in the back of his mind says that this is going to be another meltdown if he doesn’t get it straightened out quickly.

“Dad? What’s he talking about?”

It all comes rushing in and he wants to pick her up, hold her close and hide her from all the assholes of the world that are going to do this for the next ten years. “It’s alright, don’t worry.” He squeezes her hand gently in reassurance. “She’s my daughter, thank you very much.”

The manager stands up to his full height with a brittle smile. “My apologies, sir, I’m sure you understand…”

“I do. Now if you don’t mind, we’re going to finish up shopping.” He’s almost surprised by his own control. Inside, he’s spitting mad, furious that this idiot would question the fragile stability and trust they’re trying to build. Outside, he’s the picture of cool and collected.

It isn’t til later, as he’s carrying bags of groceries inside the house, that he realizes it’s the first time, other than their first meeting, that she’s called him ‘dad’.

* * *

Grocery shopping becomes a routine for the two of them. Luka has an interest in food that might be considered unusual in a child, but given her past is entirely unsurprising. It’s a struggle to get her to eat cooked vegetables, and Kylo quickly finds that the only way to convince her they aren’t disgusting is to include her in the meal making process. The first week, he picks her up from school and they go home to work on homework and plan dinner. It’s an easy way to start setting a routine

Helping plan meals quickly develops into wanting to help make them, and in retrospect, Kylo wishes he’d had the foresight to take a picture the first time Hux walked in to find Luka standing on a chair, happily kneading a bowl of dough.

She’s not tall enough to stand at the counter without a chair, and the bar stools at the counter island are a little short for her. Instead, he picks up a stepstool and starts teaching her the basics.

Simple stuff, to start. No knives, he makes it a rule that he handles the knives for now, but there are plenty of other ways she can help. Washing vegetables, peeling potatoes, measuring ingredients, all sorts of things. She seems to enjoy it, and each time Hux complements her on dinner, she bubbles with pride.

* * *

The first time Kylo finds food stashed away in the house, he stares at the box of crackers shoved under the sink in the second bathroom, confused. It must have been put there absentmindedly, and he knows it wouldn’t have been the first time he’d done something without thinking. It isn’t until Hux finds the jar of peanut butter, shoved to the very back of a bottom shelf in the laundry room, that he first suspects there might be an issue.

He brings it up over dinner. “We’re going to have a new rule that food stays in the kitchen, alright?”

Luka looks up at him, then to Hux. Her face doesn’t change, but her posture tells them all they need to know. She sinks a little in her seat and seems to get smaller. “Why?”

“We don’t need mice or bugs or anything that might want to eat our food anywhere else in the house. We can all go to the kitchen to get food, but bugs and mice can’t open the refrigerator or pantry.”

She’s quiet, then looks down at her plate.

“Luka, I want you to listen to me very carefully.” Hux is very serious, and she looks like she might cry. “You will not go hungry in this house, alright? There will always be food available. Sometimes you might need one of us to help you make it, but there will always be food here for you. But it needs to stay in the kitchen, so the rest of the house doesn’t get dirty.”

“What if I get in trouble?”

“Even then. We won’t take food away from you as punishment.”

She looks back and forth between them as they look at her, and eventually asks, “Promise?” in a tight voice.

“Promise. You’re supposed to be safe here, and that includes having enough to eat.”

She nods slowly. “Dad’s been teaching me how to make some stuff.”

“He’s a pretty good cook, huh?”

She sheds some of the glumness and gives him a wary smile. “Yeah, the muffins I took to class today were really good, people liked them.” She hesitates. “Next week is Miss Holsinger’s birthday. Do you think I could make something nice for her?”

“How about you ask her what her favorite treat is, and we’ll see what we can do?”

* * *

They don’t talk about it, but they both know that there are more problems on the horizon. This is just the start.

But they can handle it.

**Author's Note:**

> Questions, comments, or concerns always welcome!
> 
> Or come see me over on tumblr, I'm versus-verses


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